Resilience designation issued to Oakland Park, Florida

The Alliance for National & Community Resilience issues enhanced resilience designation for Buildings, Housing and Water Community Resilience Benchmarks to Oakland Park, Florida

The Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR) issued its second community resilience designation to Oakland Park, Florida, formally in December 2021. The city was selected as the second pilot city for ANCR’s Community Resilience Benchmarks (CRB) for buildings and housing and was the first city to perform the water benchmark evaluation. Oakland Park has achieved an enhanced designation for its building, housing and water-related activities.

“Oakland Park is clearly devoted to improving the resilience of its community and residents. Through the benchmarking process, both ANCR and the city gained valuable insight into the actions and policies that prepare communities for shocks and stresses. We look forward to seeing how the community leverages the results to support its broader goals,” said Evan Reis, ANCR board chair and executive director of the U.S. Resiliency Council. “As the first community to pilot the water benchmark, Oakland Park provided essential feedback that will support improvements in the CRB process and help enhance the resilience of other communities.”

The benchmarking process was led by Oakland Park staff, including Public Works Director Albert Carbon, Economic and Community Development Director Pete Schwartz, Planning Supervisor Alex Dambach, and Senior Planner Rick Buckeye. Illya Azaroff and Erik Jester of +LAB Architect, PLLC served as the community’s ANCR mentors, guiding them through the benchmarking process.

“Oakland Park is grateful to serve as a pilot community and to receive this enhanced designation from the Alliance for National & Community Resilience,” said Mayor Michael E. Carn. “We are committed to adapting to changing climate conditions to reduce vulnerabilities and improving community resilience. By benchmarking the strength of our building, housing and water-related activities, we are moving closer to meeting the sustainability and resiliency goals within our climate action plan and ultimately preserving the long-term quality of life for our residents.”

Based on the feedback from Oakland Park and lessons learned from the inaugural CRB process in Martinsville, Virginia, ANCR will finalize its benchmarking process and begin deploying the CRBs to additional communities. The Buildings, Housing and Water Benchmarks represent the first three Community Resilience Benchmarks developed. The Alliance for National & Community Resilience identified 19 community functions covering the social, organizational and infrastructural aspects of communities that influence their resilience and is developing benchmarks for each of them.